Sit Stay Save The Day
by Tygerwulfe
Summary: Sometimes saving the universe means you have to put up with minor annoyances in the aftermath. Written for a Then There's Us fanfiction challenge. The prompt was "dogs."


**Title: **Sit. Stay. Save The Day.

**Author: **Tygerwulfe

**Pairing/Rating: **Doctor (10)/Rose, G

**Summary:** Sometimes saving the universe means you have to put up with minor annoyances in the aftermath.

**WC: **961 words

Author's Notes: Written for Challenge 50 over at a href=".com/then_theres_us/"Then There's Us/a. The prompt was "dogs," and came from LJ user Juliet316. The title is a reference to the old PBS kid's show _Wishbone_, about a little dog with a big imagination. :)

Rose couldn't help giggling. It was serious, yes. And they'd both almost died (again), but they hadn't... and this was just so adorably cute and funny at the same time, that she simply couldn't stop.

"Oi, I'll have you know this is a serious inconvenience," said the Doctor. His voice sounded a little different than normal, but that was probably due to the molecular re-arranger that had hit him not ten minutes earlier. Designed to scatter the target's atoms and result in vaporization, Rose had done the only thing she could think of when the Prime Minister of Zerkal aimed it at her Doctor. She'd grabbed the Prime Minister's pet canine and thrown it into the path of the ray. However, rather than scattering either target's atoms, as a result of hitting two targets at once, the machine malfunctioned and COMBINED the Doctor and the dog.

The Doctor had retained his intelligence and personality, as well as his overall body mass – but he had been reshaped into something that resembled a cross between a werewolf and a greyhound, wearing his usual pinstriped suit and jacket. His trainers, unfortunately, had been shredded in the process of transformation. Together, he and Rose had stopped the Prime Minister, and had just finished seeing to his taking his leave of the building – as well as his elected office – when Rose finally got a few moments to look at the Doctor, and had promptly dissolved into giggles.

The Doctor pouted at her, which – of course – only made her laugh harder. He was pouting with a snout and very literal puppy dog eyes. His floppy ears laid back against his head, and he ran a brown-furred paw over the shaggy fur atop his head, then looked at the offending appendage in frustration. No opposable thumb. He had some of his humanoid range of motion, but didn't have that most important of all digits. No working his Sonic Screwdriver for the moment, at the very least. "Ro-oooose!"

Oh, how adorable... Her name came out half pout, half howl. But it at least stopped her laughing. He looked so upset, sitting there on the floor, uncomfortable, looking both nothing like and exactly like his usual self. She couldn't help it. She went to him, knelt in front of him and pulled her puppy Doctor into her arms. "There now, Doctor... You said it would wear off soon enough."

"I want it worn off now." He wriggled in her arms. He couldn't hug her back, and that just made this more frustrating. Then, suddenly, he stilled in her arms.

Rose grinned. She was petting him. Running her fingers through the shaggy fur atop his head, which felt just like his normal hair (and was just as messy), and down his neck to where it disappeared into his jacket and suit. And the petting had made him stop struggling. "Shh. It'll wear off. In the mean time, let's get back to the TARDIS, yeah? Before someone decides to turn me into a cat and you chase me."

Something uncomfortable moved behind the Doctor, and it took him a moment to register what it was. Rose petting him had his full attention... especially when she started scratching behind his ears. "Ah, Rose... Um..." The last thing he wanted to do was ask her to stop what she was doing, but...

"Yeah, Doctor?"

"My pants. Could you... maybe...?" The uncomfortable thing continued to move in time with her scratching his ears. And he rolled deep brown eyes up to look at his companion as she put two and two together. Only the glare he gave her (or attempted to, anyway – dogs can't really glare) kept her from breaking into laughter again.

As it was, she couldn't help grinning. "Your tail's caught. You have a tail."

The Doctor just glared at her in response. But when she motioned, he got up on all fours and turned his back to her. A moment and a ripping sound that made him wince (he loved this suit...) later, the uncomfortable pressure behind him was released. "Ahh. Thank you."

She couldn't help the giggle that slipped out with her words. "No problem." Her eyes were on the long, fringed, whip-like brown tail that now protruded from the Doctor's pants and wagged lazily beneath his coat tails. She was still smiling when he turned and attempted to glare at her again, but she would have none of it. She stood up and playfully patted her leg. "Come on. Let's go home."

His tail wagged at that. Home. The TARDIS was home to Rose. His mouth opened in a half-panted grin. "Alright. This'll wear off soon enough and we'll be on our way." He attempted to pull a face at her, but wound up with ears pointing different directions and an expression that was more goofy than threatening. "And don't pat your leg at me again."

Rose grinned cheekily, patted her leg, then took off out of the council room at a run, laughing, with a very annoyed Time Lord/dog hot on her heels. He'd be back to normal by the end of the day, but she fully intended to have as much fun with this as possible before he did so. She caught her tongue between her teeth as she unlocked and slipped into the TARDIS, leaving the door open enough that he could shove through it without needing hands. Maybe, with a little luck, he'd even let her do something as undignified as rub his tummy.

Rose Tyler turned with a grin as the Doctor entered the ship. This was going to be a fun "dog day" afternoon.


End file.
